


Don't Disappoint

by Ethanawriter



Series: Purple Lightning AU [2]
Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Bank Robbery, Blood, Blood and Gore, Graphic depictions of violence - Freeform, Guns, Gunshot Wounds, Less alive and None of the Avengers have Powers, Mental Abuse, Multi, Murder, Mutants still exist, Other, Protective May Parker (Spider-Man), Self-Harm, Tears, They don't have powers unless they were born with them, Tony Stark Has Issues, Villain Avengers, not yet anyway, well...not really, will update tags as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:42:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27599080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ethanawriter/pseuds/Ethanawriter
Summary: Ethan is living his life as a super-powered mutant in New York, in a world where mutants are highly illegal. If a child shows any proof of a possible mutation, they are taking from their parents and forced to live under SHEILD's rules. However, despite this, not all mutants have been captured and Ethan is one of them. Not that Ethan's life is much better, working under Krill, a British mercenary, and his men. When Ethan is told to go get some money from Krill's account, everything goes terribly wrong. A heist takes place and Ethan, along with the tellers, customers, and a small class that was taking a field trip of the connected print are all hostages. Will Ethan be able to save these people without losing his own for it?
Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark
Series: Purple Lightning AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1987780
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	1. Checks, Love?

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Deprivation of Innocence](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21174362) by [Nelalila](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nelalila/pseuds/Nelalila). 



> I don't know why I wrote this?? I just wanted some angst, my guy 
> 
> That and I got really inspired by the Deprivation Series, which is linked of course. This world is very different from their's, but I wanted to put it down as what inspired me to write this. Please Read All Tags on Their Story Before Reading!!! I suggest the same here, and I will but warnings in every chapter in the notes for what is to come.
> 
> This is also an alternate version of the original 'Purple Lightning Burns Worse' story. There will be differences and similarities to each, but reading this could give away some spoilers to that story, aka some major plot points. Keep in mind, this world is much crueler than PLBW and has many more horrible things happen to Ethan, Peter, etc.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan has been ready to kick ass and take names for a whole month. But what to do when the heist starts unexpectedly- and with more firepower than Ethan suspected?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo I'm hype for angst, hbu?

Ethan sucked in a heavy breath and walked through the sliding doors of the American Bank Note Printing Plant. This place not only printed money but had recently added a bank where you could deposit and withdraw money. However, this wasn't the ONLY reason Ethan was headed there. Yes, Krill, being the fucker that he is, instructed Ethan to go and grab some money from his account in cash, but they both knew the real reason Krill told Ethan, Krill's right-hand mercenary, to go and complete such a trivial and meanless task. And it wasn't for some minimal amount Krill had asked for such as this. It was for reasons much bigger and that would require Ethan's elegance, grace, intelligence,- even if Ethan thought he was spectacularly stupid- and stealth. Especially his stealth if he wanted to get out of this alive- granted THIS actually happened.

Word had spread that there was some form of a heist going on at the printing press, and soon. No one in the mercenary's company REALLY knew any details, maybe other than Krill himself but nothing major like a date or how large of an operation this would be. It was mostly just whispers, and probably not true, but all the same, Krill was more than interested to see how this played out. Sending Ethan made the most logical sense. No one ever saw Ethan, at least not in a way that they could point him out in a crowd, and those who did were already dead. Targets, mostly. It made Ethan practically untraceable, so Krill decided it'd be best to send him out into the wild. That and Krill had so many connections, there was no way that these potential criminals wouldn't recognize him in a matter of seconds. They'd probably even stand down. 

"Just one of the pains of being a wonderfully efficient mercenary and British arms dealer slash businessman!" He had exclaimed, his British accent calm and collected with a hint of mischief.  _ Really? Because last I checked I do all the goddamn work, you disflavored Christmas cookie.  _ Ethan thought bitterly. Sometimes Ethan really is thankful he's mute because high chance he'd still be alive after mouthing off to Krill in such a manner right now. Or ever, since those snappy thoughts/insults were a common occurrence and anyone who slightly annoyed Ethan would be made the target.  _ *Right sir. So you want me to go and do what? Won't it get suspicious if I keep showing up day after day?* _ Ethan signed to him in Russian Sign Language. For some reason, Krill only ever learned to sign in Russian-probably due to a large number of contacts there- and Ethan had to teach himself to sign in English. Which was inconvenient for the teen since they lived in America. Ethan supposed it didn't matter anyway, as basically no one even knew sign language here. "Hmm, good point! You see love, this is why I kept you around! You're much more useful without  ** distractions. ** " Ethan's body froze. 

_ What the fuck did you just call  _ **_ them _ ** _.  _

Krill smiled, wicked, sickening thing. By this point Ethan didn't even notice, just tried to calm himself before he lost his shit. 

Even if he couldn't hear what Ethan was thinking, Krill still knew what buttons to push. 

"Those  ** pe ** \- no those  ** worthless excuses of life forms ** \-  ** they  ** only made you confused. It was for such petty reasons too! Fortunately for you, I took care of  ** them ** . Aren't you so thankful for your dear-" 

_ *Yes sir. Very thankful. However, my question still goes unanswered. How do we make me look not suspicious?*  _ Ethan signed fast and tightly. His mind, however, was racing, angry, vicious thoughts ripping through the intoxicating painful memories that were blanketing his mind in a dank haze, thick like inky cumulonimbus clouds. The temptation to kill Krill in an innumerable amount of painful ways crept up into Ethan's mind, dripping into the haze like a jet black molasses. It took everything in his being not to reach up and grip the red handkerchief that hung loosely under his light purple hoodie. The same handkerchief that had been  ** theirs ** . The same handkerchief Ethan was told to burn or Krill would do so himself. "Right, right. How about... hmm, oh! How about we make you apply for an internship there? No wait, then more people might see than we would want..." Eventually, Ethan's 'brilliant' boss decided to just make it so that Ethan would be withdrawing small amounts of money, then depositing 'checks' from work. In reality, this would just be Krill adding and taking from his account, and Ethan wouldn't ever touch the physical money. It wouldn't matter either way, since Ethan made less than 600 USD a year, and Krill would immediately notice if all of a sudden Ethan had a few hundred more than normal. 

Thinking back to their conversation as Ethan entered the building, he subconsciously placed a hand on his red handkerchief. He then let out a breath Ethan didn't even realize he was holding.  _ Focus on the task at hand, E.  _ Krill mostly wanted Ethan to scope out these new criminals if they struck, see if they were worth it to strike up a deal or two with. It made sense, networking was everything to Krill, the man wouldn't be as powerful as he is now without it. Ethan, on the other hand, planned to do everything in his power to stop it. Krill had already said he didn't particularly mind, since Ethan could always claim that he didn't want to be recognized if they didn't trust him or something like that after. Even still, if these heisters' plan went to shit, Krill would be more than willing to pull some strings to meet them if necessary if they were "worth a speck of his time" as Krill put it. Ethan on the other hand... He wasn't about to watch MORE innocent people get hurt when they didn't deserve it. His hand tightened on the handkerchief.  _ Never again.  _ Besides, what would these people have that Ethan couldn't handle? He was a mercenary for christ-sake and a very successful one at that. As long as he had the element of surprise, he'd be able to more than handle any low-tier bank heist. At least that's what he kept telling himself to convince himself he wouldn't have to worry about losing control. Again.

Ethan smoothed his hands along with his hoodie, double-checking that everything was in place. Ethan was armed to the teeth with blades, and he had two guns on him. After the...  ** incident ** , Ethan got a hoodie upgrade. It was next to impossible to notice his weapons now, and even by touch, you couldn't tell that Ethan was armed. Unless you knew what you were looking for or did a strip-search, you weren't getting ahold of Ethan's little toys. Sometimes even Ethan even had trouble locating all his weapons and he was the one fucking wearing it. Normally, the metal detector that stood outside the second security door would be a problem, but Krill apparently had an inside informant who'd disable the metal detector every time Ethan entered. Well, more specifically, it was set in a time frame based manner. Every day, from 3:00 o'clock to 3:07, the metal detector shut off, and every security camera in the men's bathroom froze on an image of a clear room. The bank was convinced that the camera thing was a glitch, but they didn't really make a move to fix it. I mean, who would break into a bathroom with no windows? A few other cameras would freeze too, but so far, the bank hadn't caught on. And with the metal detector...well no one had noticed yet, according to Krill's informant.

Ethan headed to the said bathroom and double-checked that no one was in any of the stalls. It had happened before and was annoying as shit since Ethan missed his chance to hide some extra supplies in the ceiling. Luckily, nothing had happened that day, but it was still annoying as hell. Once the triple checked, Ethan crawled up into the ceiling, making sure to set noting astray. Ethan had a smaller frame, so his 5'4 self could fit and move around comfortably in the 3 feet high space. Ethan learned pretty early on that he could also get into the vents from the ceiling by flipping and twisting his body throughout the ceiling tiles and into the nearby vent in the employee bathroom. Ethan made sure to always have that vent loosened, incase his ceiling position was ever compromised. Even then, Ethan carried a screwdriver in his duffel bag that he'd snuck up here earlier. The duffer bag was filled with nifty little tools in it, along with his phone, a phone charger that was solar-powered, and some headphones. Ethan had to be prepared to stake out in the vents or the ceiling if he wanted to get a nice view of any action. Mostly though, he just chilled in the vents and messed around on his phone. There wasn't much else to do anyway. 

As the day moved on, Ethan wondered the ceiling tiles once more, now being firmly acquainted with the vent system and where it all lead. Ethan had caught wind of a small class of students, probably from a nearby high school, touring the place. Ethan sighed and laid down, the ceiling shifting gently under his weight. Ethan closed his eyes.  _ It can't happen today. Not with kids here for christ-sake.  _ In all honesty, Ethan had no right to be frustrated. He is, after all, only sixteen. Granted, he'd seen enough shit to traumatize an eighty-year-old war veteran, but still. Ethan sighed and closed his eyes tiredly, letting his mind wander. Of course, because Ethan is probably a fucking masochist, it travels to how he'll never have that. Never have a normal life, go to a normal school, be happy. Not to mention that Ethan refused to get attached to anyone again, mostly because he doesn't think he could do it again. It was all so painful.  _ And it's always my fault...no...NO I'm not going down this path again. I-I CAN'T. I love  _ **_ them _ ** _ , and I always will, but  _ **_ they're  _ ** _ in a better place now E. It's okay. Don't cry. Don't exhaust yourself with tears,  _ **_ they'd  _ ** _ never want that.  _

Ethan sucked in a shaky breath and almost laughed. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, Ethan was anything but normal. If Ethan grew up with a normal family, had a normal life, it would be taken away anyway. He glanced at his glove covered hand. Small purple bolts of electricity danced across his palm, before fizzling out and evaporating into the air. Ethan smiled, despite the pain. That was the last part of his father he had. Ethan's dad had always been so proud when he found out that Ethan could not only summon electricity like him but that Ethan had the potential to grow even stronger than he ever did. The thought of his father's proud smile, though faded, caused Ethan to turn on his and think about his mother. From what Ethan heard and saw, his mother had brilliant green wings that she could superheat to burn through any metal. Ethan had wings too, though as of now, they were painfully tucked into his pack. Ethan remembered the surprise as a kid when he realized his skin had a patch like section to it, that would keep his wings folded in and out of sight, Ethan had been ecstatic. 

Unfortunately for him, it could be super painful if Ethan kept them in for too long, and it had been around six to seven hours of keeping them tucked.  _ Oh well, I'll make sure to stretch them once I'm done here. It'll be worth it in a way, lifting off after tucking them for hours feels so freeing. _ Ethan cracked his next a bit and moved back towards the bathrooms. While Ethan still had a while to go, he'd rather be closer than farther to make a quick leave. After all, Ethan only had seven minutes to leave the building each time before he'd be stuck there for the night. As he approached the panel and laid down next to it, that's when Ethan heard it. Harsh knocking. He pushed the ceiling open a crack and peered down. No one else was in the bathroom, so were wa- "Anyone in here? If so, I'll need you to follow me." A man said as he entered the room. He was wearing a mask and was armed with a handgun. He also had on a black robe that looked kinda cultish.

_ Oh? Who's this dumb trash ape?  _

After breaking into each stall-because fuck privacy am I right?- the man groaned and spoke into an earpiece. "Jesus, there, all the bathrooms are fucking clear. Can I go back to the main hall now?" The man asked incredulously.  _ Woah there my guy. You kiss anyone with that mouth? Two curse words in one day? Don't hurt your brain there, I can see the smoke comin' out chur ass.  _ Ethan thought with a raised eyebrow. "So? The searches are the best better!"  _ Ew.  _ "Oh come on, you like them too!" The man kept talking as he left the room.  _ Okay. Guy looked to be about 6'2 or 6'3. Maybe a little shorter. Couldn't get a rough body shape. Strong enough to kick down doors, though. Seemed to have a disagreement with his boss? That could be exploited in the future. Seems like there are at least two other people in on this. Maybe more, but taking them out shouldn't be impossible. _

Ethan smiled. _ This will be fun. _

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ethan because he's adorable- and also to help explain his being mute situation
> 
> Also my guy really called Clint a dumb trash ape lol


	2. Meet the Avengers- The World Best Villains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan realizes this isn't going to be as easy as he hoped. Reality starts sinking in when he watches something... unsavory happen to one of the hostages. It almost makes him snap. Almost. He's so sorry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back bitches!!! 
> 
> This was supposed to be in the last chap but eh this works too :)

This is most certainly not fun. When Ethan scrambled to the main hall- well he tried the bank lobby but the was deserted and it turned out they were in the main print's lobby instead, which took some extensive crawling to get too- he was shocked to find that not only were there over fifty some hostages but even more so that there were so many burglars.  _ Okay, reevaluate. Look for weak points. There has to be something.  _ There was a lot of screaming and crying from the hostages and the few men doing their best to silence it... well they weren't doing a great job. Ethan surveyed the scene from above.  _ Shit... this looks more advanced than I thought. Nine hostiles in total, and an estimated fifty-seven hostages in the room. While some of them had simple handguns, most had more advanced weapons, hell one of them had a semi-automatic. On the bright side, none of them appeared to be mutants like me. _ Ethan glanced around the room. Everything else looked normal- _ wait... is that... blinking? On the windows?  _ He looked over to the doors and- _ yup same thing... must be alarms or something?  _ Ethan focused back on the hostiles in the room, looking for weaknesses in each. They were all wearing similar cult-like robes to hide their figures.  _ Could you that against them. Trip them, then use the robes to bind and blind 'em. Use pressure points to make them go down if they're still swinging. It might work, but I should wait until I can find out more information. These guys sound like they might know what they're fucking doing.  _

As if on cue, one of the men, standing at the top of the stairs that lead to an office, fired into the air to get everyone's attention... Almost making Ethan swiss cheese. He probably would have screamed-even though others already screamed and no one would be able to hear him anyway- and once more Ethan has to thank his muteness at this moment. Ethan shook his head. Even if he wasn't shot, that was way too close for comfort. Ethan shivered as he peeked through one of the bullet holes. At least he didn't have to lift the tiles which could be noticed easily, the bullet holes allowed him watching access, so at least this was safer. "ATTENTION!" Ethan watched as the man roared to the crowd, not doing much to get them to be quiet.  _ Oh dear lawd, didn't your daddy teach you kindness young man? If ya want them to be quiet, show them you don't bite, you silly bitch.  _ Ethan thought dryly. The crowd began to quiet down, much to the man's amusement. "Wonderful, wonderful! Now that all eyes are on me, I am pleased to have all your lovely cats and kittens here!"  _ Bruh you sound like a fifty-year-old man. Please stop.  _ "You may call me Manhattan, and these are my dashing friends in black robes and hand-painted masks."  _ At least I can say that they're dramatic.  _ He pointed to the entrance where two figures stood. "Brooklyn and Russia, guarding our doors-" Manhattan pointed to each individual figure with his gun as he said their names- "Indiana, Sokovia, Norway, Pennsylvania-" The last man scoffed at the that when his codename was called- "watching over all you lovey cats and kittens."  _ Stop.  _ "Finally, we have the equally important Iowa and Harlem."

"We are known as the Avengers. And all of you get to be lovely guests to the greatest bank heist the world has ever fucking seen." The man, Manhattan, said, spreading his arms wide. The hostages erupted in a panic, so Manhattan simply aimed toward the ceiling. This time, however, Ethan saw it coming and rolled out of the way as he fired.  _ JESUS, put the safety on that thing you psycho!!  _ Ethan double checked he wasn't hit-nothing major, just grazed with the small cut dripping a bit- and crawled back to the tile. Ethan didn't put his weight on the swiss-cheese looking tile, but he used the closest holes to peer through and back to the main hall. Manhattan, who didn't seem to be able to keep his mouth shut for five seconds, was talking again. "Oh come on now, you were all being so good! Just do what we say and you'll make it out alive! Ya know, that whole 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours' thing. Obey, and you live. Don't and well... you'll get to be as pretty as that ceiling tile up there." Manhattan said, pointing up. Suddenly all eyes were on said tile, and Ethan moved out of view. He doubted that anyone COULD see him, but he wasn't taking chances, not with trigger-happy-Sam down there. 

"Alright, now with that settled, we'll go through a more extensive list of rules in a bit. For now, you'll be given food and water, and be able to go to the bathroom." Malt stretched as if this was tiring him out already. "Oh, and just as an FYI, all the windows and doors have been programmed to blow up if you try to escape.-" _ Ah, they were bombs, not alarms. You can't do anything without dramatics, can you? _ \- "So not only will you be falmbousa-ed, but so will any nearby hostages friends of yours. You'll be getting searched now, so please hand over those lovely electronic devices, along with any sharp pointy objects.-"  _ A baseball bat isn't sharp, do they have to hand that over? - _ "You don't want to bleed out in front of all these lovely people, right? Good. Now Brooklyn here will be taking over any other proceedings unless I need to be called down. And believe me,  **_ NO ONE _ ** wants that. SO! Play nice, and we might have some gifts for ya. Get settled, get comfortable! We're in this for the long haul ladies and gentlemen."  _ At least he stopped with that whole 'cats and kittens' thing. It was getting creepy. _

With that, Manhattan entered into the connected office and Brooklyn started yelling orders at the hostages. Ethan sucked in a low breath and moved over to the private office that looked out over the main hall. Once Ethan moved the ceiling tile over a bit and pulled out a piece of paper and pen, Ethan planned on writing down any useful information that could help the cops if need be. Since the office was secluded and blinds covered the windows that allowed anyone to see outside of the office, Ethan watched Manhattan's body relax as he sat in the swivel chair. Manhattan picked up a radio of some type and pressed talk. "Heyo Brucey!" He said. The was silence than an aggravated noise on the other end. "Really Tony? You wanted the fucking codenames, stick to them god damn it." Manhattan- or rather Tony- laughed. "Oh come on, no one's gonna hear, why don't you ask Natasha to get that stick out of your ass that you've shoved up so far." "Tony, I swear to-" "Okay fine,  _ Ohio _ , what do you got so far?" Ethan wrote down notes quietly above them. While Ethan didn't recognize any of the names, it might help the police. "Machines aren't up yet, but it's a work in progress. We'll have to bring some employees down soon." Tony nodded, "Of course. What about our lovely news channels?" "Channels are making constant reports on the situation, with over a hundred officers from the NYPD and the FBI on the case. Looks like we've got their attention. SWAT and Hostage Rescue Team as well. I have access to some of the conversations, so we should probably send a stream soon." The two men speak about this for a little while longer, before the subject changes again.

"How are the hostages so far?" The other man, Brucey, asked. "Getting them in the robes now. There are fifty-seven in total, a little bit more since we didn't plan for a bus full'a toddlers. I think they're teenagers on a field trip, but I'm not too worried. We're giving out the food now with some water, per  _ your  _ request." Another pause, longer than the other. "Tony-" "Manhattan, actually, but go ahead." A groan of frustration. "Yeah, whatever, can we please not do this right now? I can only handle so much annoying bullshit in one day." Tony scoffed. "Yeah, yeah, go do your thing dude. We'll send down some workers soon enough." There was an affirmative noise on the other end as Tony removed his mask and ran a hand through his hair.  _ Rookie mistake my guy. You just made my job, a whole lot easier.  _ Ethan thought as he wrote down some more information on this Tony guy. He had short black hair, a black goatee, and what Ethan presumed were dark brown eyes, though it was hard to see. Ethan scribbled down some stuff about his chin and facial shape, before continuing to watch the man.

After a bit, Tony reached over a radioed to two other men, Pennsylvania and Norway, to come over. As soon as they entered, Tony turned to them and waited for them to close the door before speaking. "Rhodey, Thor, Bruce says we're all clear for the first live stream. Take one of the hostages' phones to stream it. That should get the feds to fuck off for an hour or two." They both nodded and headed out, as Ethan scowled in their direction.  _ Live stream huh? Maybe that's the perfect time to crash the party.  _ Ethan thought, feeling his long-forgotten wings wriggle a bit under his skin. Ethan would need a plan though, a good one, and fast. Shuffling back over to the swiss-cheese tile, Ethan searched through his bag before-  _ Ah ha! Gotcha! New these would come in handy!  _ Ethan smirked down at his three purple smoke bombs, a mixture of his creative mind and...  ** her  ** intelligence. Ethan shook his head.  _ Focus. You're doing what's right.  _ For now, he still had the element of surprise on his side and wasn't about to give that up any time soon. Ethan knew that even if he revealed himself, it wouldn't take away that element, not if anyone knew where he was coming from. Even then, it would wind the hostiles as tight as bowstrings, would give Ethan the opportunity to make them snap when they made the wrong move. But first... _ I should pay that Tony guy a visit. Or, at least, his door a visit.  _ Ethan snuck back over and lifted a ceiling panel overhanging the door to the office up a bit. Ethan focused his energy on a small bolt of purple electricity, which danced across his hand. It slid down the outside wall of the office and hit the panel that locked or unlocked the door. After listening to the faint buzzing sound, Ethan fixed the ceiling tile and moved on. Hopefully, I'd be enough for Ethan to do his job before Tony realized he was trapped. 

By the time Ethan arrived back at the bullet holes in the ceiling tile, the Thor guy had grabbed someone's phone and the last of the hostages were putting on masks and holding guns.  _ Alright, let's get this party started. _ Gripping the smoke bombs, Ethan moved the ceiling panel out of the way. Taking a deep breath, he waited in silence for the stream to start. "Okay, everyone. We're going to start the little video for our police friends now. Remember, be quiet or you'll be shot. Hold your weapons like we've asked and shown you all too."  _ Showtime. _ As the video started, Ethan tossed down the smoke bombs. They hit the ground with a clang and purple smoke hissed out of them. Confused shouts filled the roof, and Ethan could hear faint banging on a door. Ethan jumped out of the roof, expanding his wings as he hit the ground. His feet smacked down on the railing he was just above, and Ethan jumped down once more into the smoke. Ethan moved throughout the room, listening for unsuspecting targets. Ethan made eye contact with one of the hostages, or what Ethan would interrupt as eye contact since they stared at each other for a moment before Ethan moved further into the smoke. The first 'villain' he came across is Brooklyn. Ethan pulled out a small blade as he circled the man from behind, before jumping up and onto him. Ethan grabbed onto his neck, attempting to flip the guy. Unfortunately, Brooklyn had more mass to him than Ethan originally predicted. The man didn't go down and instead managed to toss Ethan off him with a guy. Ethan gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his blade.  _ Shit, I think I cut myself with the knife.  _ His side leaked lightly, but Ethan focused back on the man, who was now looking from his gun.  _ He must have dropped it when I put him in a chokehold... _ Realizing Ethan had a chance at taking him down, Ethan charged again, this time using the knife first. 

The man tried to move out of the way, but Ethan was quicker. He smacked down the butt of his knife on a pressure point in his shoulder, mixing it with a bit of his electricity, making the arm completely useless. As much as Ethan wanted to charge up and shock the man into submission, that would fry Ethan in the process, plus his screams could attract more people over into the area, which was the last thing Ethan needed. So Ethan opted out for knife-to-hand combat instead, his ribs aching something terrible from being slammed onto them. Ethan managed to cut Brooklyn's hand and wedge said knife into his lower thigh, but by that point, Ethan's smokescreen was dissipating and Ethan needed to hide once more. Blood was dripping onto the floor from both men, and Ethan could feel some bruising coming in.  _ Fuck, should a planned ahead more. I'll have to retreat for now, but at least I did some damage.  _ Ethan thought as he moved further from Brooklyn's view. Ethan climbed up the railing once more, staining it with his bloody hands, and hopped back into the ceiling, shuffling his wings back into his body. Once they were fully sheathed, Ethan moved the ceiling tile back, just in time for the sound of a door to be broken in and for Ethan to see a more than pissed off Tony exit the office, shouting commands as the smoke finally cleared out. Ethan smiled smugly when he saw Brooklyn, who was bleeding and would no doubt have bruising.  _ Aw, you can see him limping like a little bitch.  _ Ethan thought sadistically.

"What the FUCK was that?!" Tony screamed at the hostages and his 'friends', finally free from the dreaded locked door. The hostages body language came across as terrified,-it was hard to tell with the masks still on the vast majority of them- and Thor promptly grabbed the forgotten phone, which didn't seem broken. The stream was still going. "Shit." He growled and shut it off quickly. He looked over to Tony, who seemed to get the message as he tried to re-coop. "Alright. Fine. We were playing nice until then, but after that stunt, it seems we're going to have to go for the next best thing. Punishment." Tony announced to the horrified screams of the hostages.  _ Shit shit shit.  _ Ethan thought, desperate to fix this. Tony shot into the air again, but this time he was far enough away that Ethan didn't need to move. This isn't what he wanted, in fact, he just made everything ten times worse.  _ I need a backup plan now! Think Ethan...  _ He shut his eyes, trying to go over his options and Tony yelled at and instructed the people in the room. Ethan could only tune it all out. He needed a better plan, and his mind was racing, along with his heart. He could just reveal himself again, but that'd only let them be prepared and kill him. Ethan might be a mutant, but he can't survive getting shot. He could give himself up, but then the hostages wouldn't be able to escape. If Ethan could move the hostages away from the window, he could trigger the bomb, but how was he supposed to do that without talking?! Times like these, he hated the fact that he was mute. It would make everything so much easier to just talk to these people. Ethan's mind raised with possible ways to try and fix everything, but nothing was completely safe and liable to fail.  _ Goddamn it! I should have just waited, but I thought if I could get them out quicker-  _ "Hey! Let her go!" A shout from the hostages snapped Ethan's tumbling mind from his task. He looked back to see one of the hostages, tripping and decking one of the captors -  _ Indiana,  _ Ethan remembers- when Indiana grabbed onto another one of the female hostages and began pulling her forward. 

Indiana's gun clattered to the floor, one of the semi-automatics, causing some of the other hostages to make a grab for it. More of the captors ran over to stop the rebellion as Tony moved down the stairs and to the main floor. That didn't look good. Ethan watched in awe as some of the hostages put up a bit of a fight. However, it didn't take long for the riot to be contained, thanks to some of the hostiles shooting at the hostages. None of the shots actually hit, and it was clear this was meant to be a warning of sorts, but the hostages got the message all the same, with the kid who started it all being grabbed by his shirt and held still. The kid was shaking in fear, his mask still on, as the female he defended screaming and pleading in horror.

"Well, look what we have here! A little hero in the making?" In seconds, Tony was grabbing the kid away from the other with a mixture of cockiness and minor annoyance painting his voice. "Hello, Little Hero. Are you the one who hurt Brooklyn over there?" He asked, motioning to the injured man, who was making his way up the stair with Indiana helping him after pulling away from the hostages. "Or was your defiance a 'coincidence'?" He asked with air quotes, his voice letting out a vicious growl. "P-Please sir! I- they were going to hurt Mich-" Tony smacked the kid to the ground as if he was nothing more than a fly on the wall, the boy's mask tumbling off as he hit the ground with an 'oof.' "Oops, sorry, but I get tired of the bullshit and excuses  _ REAL  _ quick. Listen kiddies,-" Tony said, nodding at what Ethan assumed was the high school class here for a tour of the print- "never play hero. You'll never win." Tony pulled out a handgun and cocked it, making a move for the boy.  _ Motherfucker. _ Ethan started to move the ceiling tile. He wasn't going to let that kid's brains be splattered on the white linoleum tiles. Even if it meant making things worse, at least he tried to save the kid, right? The girl was sobbing now, clawing desperately at the arms that held her back, begging wildly. Tony grabbed the kid by the hair and whipped the boy around to face him. And then he stopped.  _ He's... just staring? What the hell?  _ Ethan was in jumping position, he was ready to dive down and save the kid but... something felt off. After a moment of silence and some questioning stares from the other captors, Tony spoke. 

"Yuh know what? I changed my mind." Tony shoved the kid into Pennsylvania- or rather Rhodey as Ethan recalls-'s arms. "Take him upstairs, I've decided to have a chat with the little hero instead. I still need to have a chat with our lovely hostages about the dangers of smoke bombs and locking doors though, so I'll be up in a bit." The man nodded and took him away, leaving the woman to drop to the floor crying. Tony looked over towards her, and Ethan could almost hear him rolling his eyes. "Seriously? Stop bitching, I didn't kill your little boyfriend. Yet." Ethan bit his lip- or tried to at least it's hard to do with a mask on- in annoyance.  _ Yeah, that'll make her feel better, really words of wisdom Shakespeare. Seriously? Can you BE less compassionate?  _ Ethan thought with a roll of his eyes. When the girl only cried more, Tony growled in annoyance and grabbed her roughly by the face, causing a small burst of electricity to leave Ethan's body. The lights flicked slightly and it unfortunately just made Tony come across as more intimidating. "I SAID to fucking STOP crying. Don't, and you get to be lucky number one on the Who's-Dying-Today list, with the little hero as number two." The girl nodded roughly and fell silent, tears still dripping to the floor. Tony nodded and dropped her, beginning to address the group. 

"Now, that wasn't nice. Not at all. Poor Brooklyn is bleeding and now there's a mess for the janitors later. But I'll make you all a deal. Tell me anything you know or saw from that attack, and you get a call to a loved one if I deem it useful. If you find out who the perpetrator is, we'll let you go free, albeit you have proof, and get them to admit it to our face. Feel free to tell any of my lovely friends if you have information. Let's all hope that something like THAT doesn't happen again." Ethan sucked in a breath and refixed the ceiling tile. Now he was fucked. If someone caught him, including any hostages, there's no way they wouldn't turn him in to escape. Ethan wouldn't blame them though, he'd probably do the same. Then again, Ethan doubted that this Tony guy would actually keep his promise.  _ Oh well, I just need to be more careful... smarter about this. I can still do this. I... I should check on the kid. If Tony's not in the office or when he leaves, I might be able to drop down, convince him I'm on his side... talk to him... _

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh lord everything is going to shit! As I promised- probably should have added a Dead Dove: Do Not Eat tag but I also might not soooooo

**Author's Note:**

> Next Update on 11/21/20! Your comments fuel me :)


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